Whitley Bay Q&A screening to celebrate Ian La Frenais
North East screenwriting legend Ian La Frenais OBE returns to his native Whitley Bay on 31 August for a rare screening of his Beatles-inspired film Across the Universe.
Musical feature Across the Universe (2007) was co-written by the prolific partnership of La Frenais and Dick Clements(Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge, Auf Wiedersehen Pet) and combines live action and animation to tell a love story with the help of songs by The Beatles.
The film is set in the 1960’s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. Gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool.
Following the film, La Frenais will discuss the duo’s creative achievements in a Q&A with media historian Chris Phipps. The conversation will explore the saga behind Across the Universe and chart La Frenais and Clements’ careers through to the forthcoming BBC drama The Spies of Warsaw (David Tennant, Janet Montgomery).
Click here for more information and to buy tickets.